Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Saturday 26 September 2015

The European Union Times


Posted: 25 Sep 2015 06:26 AM PDT

On Tuesday we noted, with some alarm, that the US is set to deliver 20 new nuclear bombs to Germany, each of which has four times the destructive power of the one that was dropped on Hiroshima.
For his part, Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, said the move blurs the line between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons,” while one member of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats warned that the “new attack options against Russia” constitute “a conscious provocation of [Germany’s] Russian neighbors.”
Of course, as we’ve documented extensively of late, NATO has never really been shy when it comes to “conscious provocations” of the Russians and that goes double in the wake of Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and subsequent support for the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.
Still, war games are one thing, but nuclear escalations are entirely another and if ever there were a time when nuclear sabre rattling could prove especially dangerous it’s now, as the US and Russia are one “accident” away from open war in Syria.
Russia’s foreign ministry immediately condemned the delivery of the bombs to Germany, as spokeswoman Maria Zakharova (who’s known for amusingly accurate depictions of US foreign policy) warned that the move represents an “infringement of Articles 1 and 2 of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.”
Well sure enough, The Kremlin is now hitting back. Here’s Reuters:
Russia may deploy Iskander ballistic missiles to its enclave of Kaliningrad if the United States upgrades its nuclear weapons in Germany, the Interfax news agency cited a military source as saying on Wednesday.
“A final decision well be taken after detailed analysis of the potential threat,” the agency cited the source as saying.
What’s an Iskander, you ask? Well, here’s a helpful description from The Moscow Times:
The Iskander missile system is one of the most deadly weapons in the Russian arsenal. First fielded in the 1990s, the Iskander is a high-precision tactical ballistic missile system optimized for use at close ranges — under 500 kilometers.
Iskander missiles are capable of being loaded with nuclear warheads.
And here’s an Iskander in action courtesy of RT:

We suppose this means the Pentagon may need to speed up its efforts to modernize US plans for a battle in the Baltics.
We’ll close with the following from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov discussing the possible US shipment to Germany:
“This is yet another step and, unfortunately a very serious step toward antagonizing the tenseness on the European continent. Unfortunately, if these plans come to light, with taking into consideration [Germany’s] Bundestag’s decision and so forth, one could say that they are steadfastly heading to establishing this. Of course, this may lead to a strategic imbalance in Europe and, therefore, naturally this will make Russia take according steps and countermeasures to establish parity because, naturally, this is not a step toward boosting stability, increasing trust, or providing security in Europe.”

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Posted: 25 Sep 2015 06:13 AM PDT

While bureaucrats in Brussels try to shift the burden of responsibility for Syrian refugees to Serbia, the Eurocrats have apparently forgotten that the Balkan country has had to deal with its own Serbian refugee problem caused by the bloody dissolution of Yugoslavia instigated by the West, Dragana Trifkovic told Sputnik.
The current migration of people from the Middle East to Europe is an event of historic proportions, which could result in the long-term destabilization of European countries and drastically change the established status quo on the European continent, according to Dragana Trifkovic, an author, expert in geopolitics and the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies, in Belgrade, Serbia.
“The huge wave of migrants from the Middle East is a big problem for Europe because it substantially changes its structure. We are now practically at the beginning of a crisis that will probably escalate in the future. Concerning Serbia, we are a transiting country for the migrants, not their final goal, and we don’t have a strategy for their permanent stay. That would be unacceptable for Serbia because the country cannot even provide a normal life for its own citizens, which is why young people leave Serbia looking for better conditions abroad,” Trifkovic told Sputnik.
Eurocrats Shifting Burden of Responsibility to Others
The expert elaborated that the danger for Serbia comes from Brussels, which pressures Belgrade to take care of a certain number of migrants. Yet on the other hand, the West cannot force the asylum seekers to stay in Serbia because the Balkan country is not considered as attractive as Germany. The asylum seekers do not view Serbia as a country, “that can offer them anything,” Trifkovic underscored.
Curiously enough, there is a new peculiar trend that can be now observed in the Balkans: Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija are joining the migrants from the Middle East on their way to Western Europe, according to the Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies.
“Until now, the Serbian government has been taking the line of least resistance and was making concessions to Washington and Brussels at the expense of Serbia’s national interests. That is why some collaborators of the West already stated in the Serbian media that Serbia should take care of a certain number of migrants as a candidate for EU membership,” the expert remarked.
However, it seems that the Brussels’ bureaucracy has apparently forgotten that Serbia itself bears the burden of social problems caused by the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-2001 and NATO aggression against the Balkan state.
“I have to mention the fact that Serbia hasn’t even found a solution for the Serbian refugees, I mean, for the Serbs that fled the regions where they were living because of the terror, regions that were annexed to the new born states after the breakdown of Yugoslavia. Many Serbs that fled from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Metohija, still live in collective refugee centers and they don’t have any other choice. Conditions in those centers are very bad,” Trifkovic told Sputnik.
The expert pointed out that Serbia has in no way participated in the destruction of the Middle Eastern countries and so far has absolutely no obligation to cope with the consequences of decades-long US/NATO interventionist policy in the region.
Will Refugee Crisis Undermine Fragile Religious and Ethnic Balance in the Balkans?
One question has come up regarding whether or not the influx of Muslim refugees, which allegedly includes former Islamist fighters, will upset the fragile religious and ethnic balance in the Balkans and further aggravate tensions in the region?
“We have seen that migrants are families with young children, and they should not be viewed through the war prism. Someone is responsible for the fate of these people and for destroying their future,” Trifkovic emphasized, adding that the main problem in the Balkans is not Muslim refugees, but Muslim extremist and terrorist structures that are supported primarily by the United States, and then Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
“I mean that we have a problem with the Albanian terrorists, especially in Kosovo and Metohija and in connection with this problem, there is a project of a Greater Albania supported by Washington. Additionally we have a problem with the Wahhabi and Islamist extremists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in parts of Serbia where there is a majority Muslim population. In this respect, the mechanism for the destabilization of the Balkans has long been established over these terrorist structures,” the expert told Sputnik.
Still, although the influx of refugees from the Middle East is a much more serious problem for Western Europe, unfortunately it could jeopardize the security of the Balkans as well, according to the expert.
“The solution has to be found and accepted by Europe as a whole, but not by constructing fences, which is totally contrary to the self-declared ideology of the freedom of movement and the protection of human rights,” she stressed.
In light of this the current crisis may deal a lethal blow to the European Union, resulting in its ultimate collapse.
EU’s Blind Support for US Interventionist Policies Backfires at Europe
“The blind support of US interventionist policies that has resulted in the destruction of the Middle East countries, as well as in the long-term destabilization of the region, will have major consequences for the EU and Europe in general. Additionally, European countries financed, supported and armed the rebels, adventurers and terrorists, in order to overthrow the regimes considered inappropriate by Washington,” the expert stressed.
Trifkovic called attention to the fact that the European elites, however, still don’t think about their own responsibilities and that they are unwilling to solve those problems. Instead, the EU member states are arguing with each other over how many refugees each country should take in.
The expert believes that a strategic approach to the refugee crisis in Europe should include shifting from the previous irresponsible policy conducted by Brussels towards its own citizens, and ending the EU’s blind support of Washington’s interests.
The second step in mending the crisis should be halting the West’s foreign policy aimed at destabilizing the Middle East, and developing a plan in order to eliminate the consequences of this policy.
“That kind of plan would have to involve help for state-building forces, not for the forces of chaos. For example, help for Bashar al-Assad to stop ISIL’s expansion, to settle the conflict, to stabilize and take care of people who were injured during the war,” Trifkovic suggested.
Henry Kissinger: ‘To Be America’s Friend is Fatal’
Commenting on the possible consequences of the refugee crisis to Europe, Dragana Trifkovic cited famous US politician Henry Kissinger, who once quipped that “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.”
“There is a very important book titled “Europe has died in Pristina”, written by Jacques Hogard, a former French officer who had seen with his own eyes the suicide of Europe and described it in his book. The decadence of European civilization is entering its final phase. The only hope that remains is that new political elites will grow stronger, elites that are aware of the situation in which we find ourselves and that they will be able to assume a historic responsibility and work on correcting the errors of unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels,” Trifkovic pointed out.
And still there is a light at the end of the tunnel, she believes:
“I would like to add that I am optimistic, that the migrant crisis is a problem that could reanimate Europe and force it to take its fate into its own hands,” Dragana Trifkovic concluded.
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Posted: 25 Sep 2015 05:56 AM PDT
A waist-down paralyzed man regained his ability to walk after neurosurgeons connected his brain’s waves to his knees’ neurons.
A man with the paralysis of the lower body has regained the power to walk after his brain signals were transmitted artificially to the receptor neurons of his legs.
The 26-year-old American, who picked up a spinal cord injury (SCI) in a motorbike accident about five years ago, managed to walk some 3.66 meters, after making 39 unsuccessful attempts, making the endeavor the first walk without the help of manually operated robotic limbs, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
Neurosurgeons from the University of California first gave him mental training to reactivate his brain’s capability to walk. As a part of this training, he had to play a video game and use his thoughts to control the movements of the character on the screen. To do this, he wore a cap with electrodes that connect his brain’s signals to the computer.
He also underwent extensive physiotherapy to wake up and strengthen his long-dormant leg muscles.
A waist-down paralyzed man is playing a video game and uses his thoughts to control the movements of the character on the screen.
“We showed that you can restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury. This non-invasive system for leg muscle stimulation is a promising method and is an advance of our current brain-controlled systems that use virtual reality or a robotic exoskeleton,” said Dr. An Do, a spinal injury specialist at the University of California in Irvine who co-led the study.
Even after years of paralysis, the brain can still produce robust brain waves that can be harnessed to enable basic walking, he further said, adding that the study revealed that a paralyzed patient, even a waist-down one, can restore intuitive and brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury.
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Posted: 25 Sep 2015 04:53 AM PDT


A YouTube UFO hunter who calls himself Mr. Enigma, claims to have spotted a rock formation on Mars that allegedly “looks eerily similar” to one of the world’s most famous and mysterious landmarks, the ancient English monument, Stonehenge.
“Now, I know the formation isn’t an exact match [for Stonehenge]” Mr. Enigma notes in the video. “Nor am I saying this is indeed a Stonehenge set-up. I’m just saying there is something strange about this area, and it looks very much like the mysterious ancient stones of Stonehenge.”
The UFO hunter adds: “Could the builders of Stonehenge have visited Mars and did they build the same thing there? Or did we have visitors teach us how to build these things and do the same for long-lost beings on Mars as well?”
According to archaeologists, Stonehenge, the ancient ruin which consists of roughly 100 large upright stones placed in a circular layout, was built in several stages, with the earliest constructed at least 5,000 years ago. The monument located in southern England was once a burial ground. It took an estimated 1,500 years to erect Stonehenge. Up to one million people visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site every year.
The UFO hunter’s discovery has not been left unnoticed by the popular blog UFO Sightings Daily.
“This is something remarkable found by Mister Enigma of YouTube,” Scott C. Waring acknowledged. “Its two circles of rocks and one square in its center.”
In May scientists from Rosetta’s OSIRIS team discovered an unusual formation of boulders in the Aker region on the large lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. They said it was reminiscent of Stonehenge-style rocks on Earth.
The NASA Curiosity Mars rover also previously spotted what NASA dubbed as a “Stonehenge” on Mars, a “small cluster of rocks that resembles famous rock structure in England.”
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Posted: 25 Sep 2015 03:48 AM PDT

Syria’s civil war has prompted the first withdrawal of crop seeds from a “doomsday” vault built in an Arctic mountainside to safeguard global food supplies.
The seeds, including samples of wheat, barley and grasses suited to dry regions, have been requested by researchers in the Middle East to replace a collection in the Syrian city of Aleppo that has been damaged by the war.
“Protecting the world’s biodiversity in this manner is precisely the purpose of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault,” said Brian Lainoff, spokesman for the Crop Trust which runs the underground store on a Norwegian island 1300 kilometres from the North Pole.
The vault has more than 860,000 samples, from almost all nations.
The vault, which opened on the Svalbard archipelago in 2008, is designed to protect crop seeds – such as beans, rice and wheat – against the worst cataclysms of nuclear war or disease.
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Posted by Roberto Abraham Scaruffi at 08:45